New WhatsApp security flaw found, could make efforts against fake news pointless

New WhatsApp security flaw found, could make efforts against fake news pointless

An Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies has discovered a security flaw in WhatsApp that could let the hackers intercept and change WhatsApp messages sent in both private and group chats.

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India Today Tech

New Delhi

August 10, 2018

UPDATED: August 11, 2018 10:31 IST

An Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies has discovered a security flaw in WhatsApp that could let the hackers intercept and change WhatsApp messages sent in both private and group chats. Check Point in its reports states that the new vulnerabilities "could allow threat actors to intercept and manipulate messages sent in both private and group conversations."

The Check Point security researchers have published a detailed report on how they managed to alter texts in the group as well as private chat. The researchers, using the quote feature, managed to change the identity of the sender. They could even change the replies and send private messages to a group participant. The hackers also managed to send private replies in group text which could be read by other group members.

WhatsApp claims that it is fully encrypted. The video, audio, texts and all other files that are exchanged on the chat app are fully encrypted. Not even WhatsApp can read these messages. It is these claims that pushed the researchers to test the chat app's security strength.

The researchers explain how they managed to decrypt WhatsApp and access all the chats. According to a New York Times report, WhatsApp has acknowledged that the quote feature can be altered but it is not a flaw. WhatsApp spokesperson Carl Woog told NYT that the Check Point finding has nothing to do with its end-to-end encryption security.

WhatsApp which has almost 1.5 billion users recently came under fire for the serving as a platform for the spread of fake news. The worst impact of the fake news is seen here in India where false rumours of child kidnappers spread via WhatsApp led to lynching.

WhatsApp has been asked by the Indian government to work on ways to deal with the spread of fake news in India. WhatsApp in response has rolled out features like the forward label and limiting the forwarded message to five chats. The Facebook-owned chat platform has also told the government that it is working on to build a local team in India and hunt for Head of Policy and Head of India is on. However, according to a PTI report, these steps of WhatsApp have failed to meet the government's expectations for attribution and traceability of fake messages.

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